EPA Watch
Science behind controversial particulate studies vindicated The scientific underpinnings of two studies used to support EPA's continuing and controversial quest to regulate fine particles are vindicated in a report to be published this month. Funded by EPA and a coalition of businesses, the painstaking reanalysis of the data shows that the studies correctly correlated long-term exposure to high levels of particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns in size (PM2 J with premature death, especially in sensitive subpopulations. Led by Daniel Krewski, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at Canada's University of Ottawa, the team of 31 scientists that was charged with reanalyzing the two studies linking exposure to PM 2 5 with premature death went beyond replicating the original findings. They used newer tools to test the validity of the studies' conclusions and even developed new methods of spatial analysis to elucidate previously unexplored factors related to how the studied population's he3.1th W3.s associated with the cities in which they lived said Rick Burnett senior scientist with the Environmental Health Directorate at Health Canada a govemmental organizatinn "Thpv threw everv thing hut the kitchen sink at the studies and they came out largely untouched " summarized John Rachmann FPA's associate director fnr sn'pnrp'nnlirv The impetus for the reanalysis, which was brokered by the Health Effects Institute, a nonprofit organization with members from EPA and the motor vehicle industry, was the outcry following EPA's tightening of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for particulate matter in July 1997. Combustion from coaland oil-fired power plants, smelters, automobiles, and diesel trucks rep-
resents the largest source of fine particles, and questions about the science underlying the studies behind EPA's rule sparked a lawsuit by the American Trucking Association (ATA) and other affected organizations, which ultimately delayed the implementation of the new standards. Although subsequent federal court rulings upheld the validity of the studies, which were originally conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health and the American Cancer Society ATA's lawsuit is still
PM 2 5 exposure, other studies formed the basis for the 24-hour exposure standard for fine particulates. Preliminary results from the National Morbidity, Mortality, and Air Pollution Study (NMAPS) that was due in May also validate EPA's 1997 conclusions about the association between PM and health, Bachmann said. After the reanalysis and NMAPS reports come out, EPA should have a "very, very powerful" case for the link between fine particles and premature death, Bachmann concluded.
The researchers charged with reanalyzing the PM data "threw everything but the kitchen sink at the studies, and they came out largely untouched".
Widespread cheating triggers Clean Air Act enforcement initiative
—John Bachmann,
EPA
in litigation because of questions about EPA's authority under the Clean Air Act. It may come before the Supreme Court this year. Because the studies became a cause celebre for critics of the PM 2 . 5 standard, Bachmann of EPA said he was "pleased, but not surprised" by the outcome of the reanalysis. "This certainly should quiet a few folks who claimed that EPA was misusing data," he added. The ATA lawsuit was not about whether the science was improper, but that the agency had not really proved its point, said Fern Abrams, manager of ATA's environmental affairs. But the organization would not officially comment on the reanalysis until the report was available she said Although the Harvard School of Public Health and American Cancer Society studies were used to create the standard for maximum yearly
2 5 2 A • JUNE 1, 2000 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / NEWS
Responding to Clean Air Act (CAA) noncompliance rates as high as 80% in some industries, EPA has launched an enforcement initiative against scofflaws in seven industry sectors. The initiative, announced at an American Bar Association conference in March, partly targets nitrogen oxide (NOJ emissions from the petroleum and electric utility industries, according to EPA officials. When EPA looked closely at the sectors, it found high rates of noncompliance with the CAA among refining and electric utilities; confined animal feeding operations; and industrial organic compound, chemical preparation, iron and steel, and primary nonferrous metal facilities, said Eric Schaeffer, director of EPA's Office of Regulatory Enforcement. A good number of the infractions were violations of CAA's New Source Review (NSR) permit program. Companies must obtain NSR permits from EPA for new construction or any modifications at existing plants that boost facility output and more often than not increase emissions of pollutants, such as smogforming NO and particulate matter. © 2000 American Chemical Society
EPA has expected 900 NSR permits to be filed each year but has only received about 200 per year. "We're seeing substantial modifications at facilities and new construction that [result in] increased pollution, but we haven't seen an increase in new source review permits," explained an agency official. Instead of applying for the permits, facility operators are masking new construction as routine maintenance, which is exempt from NSR permits, the official said. This occurs frequently in the petroleum industry; currently, 41% of all petroleum refining facilities are classified as significant violators of the CAA for lax performance under the NSR requirements, according to EPA data. EPA filed notices of violation in November 1999 for 32 electric utilities in the Midwest and South that have flouted the law primarily by ignoring the NSR program and are illegally emitting tens of millions of tons of pollutants that contribute to smog. Regional EPA offices will work to bring the seven targeted industry sectors into compliance by reviewing noncompliance data, evaluating actions against facilities, and providing corrective measures the official said. Representatives of those companies targeted for violating the CAA charge that EPA is taking a backdoor approach toward implementing its smog rule. A federal court last year overturned EPA's new regulations to reduce smog in the eastern half of the country. Although that ruling was overturned by a threejudge panel in early March, the rule is still tied up in court, as petitioners have vowed to appeal again. "It's reasonable to think these enforcement efforts are designed to reduce NO.,. emissions," said Chuck Patrizia, partner with Paul, Hastings, lanofsky, and Walker, a law firm representing industrial facilities. Because it was unable to enforce its new ozone standard "EPA turned to enforcement measures to reduce NO emissions," Patrizia claimed. "All these initiatives are a reaction to EPA's inability to oversee lax enforcement by the states," asserted John Coequyt, analyst with the activist organization Environmental Working Group. EPA records reveal a persistent pattern of noncompliance by industry and lax enforcement by EPA and states, he said. For
instance, 39% of the major facilities in five industry sectors violated the CAA in 1997 and 1998, but only one-third of the lawbreakers have been fined, he said. "I beg to differ that enforcement is down," said the EPA official, adding that EPA does its best with the resources it has. EPA boasted that 1999 was a banner year for enforcement, with a record $166.7 million in civil penalties assessed and a record 208 years of incarceration assessed for environmental crimes.
Rural water systems to monitor for Cryptosporidium Studies show the occurrence of the microbial pathogen Cryptosporidium parvum is fairly widespread in surface waters across the United States. As a result, EPA has proposed extending a rule to control Cryptosporidium governing large water utilities to small, community water systems, in an effort to reduce the threat of
cryptosporidiosis, a severe infection that can kill the severely immunocompromised. An additional 18 million people would be protected from potential Cryptosporidium exposure once the rule is finalized, according to EPA {Fed. Regist., 65 (69), April 10, 2000, pp. 19,046-19,150). Vice President Al Gore announced the proposed rule on March 28, the fruit of many meetings between water utilities, state agencies, and environmental and public health groups. Gore added that the Clinton administration is committed to spend $825 million in aid to these communities to implement the rule. The funding is not guaranteed; rather, it will be included in Clinton's budget request to Congress for the 2001 fiscal year. The rule is expected to be finalized by November and go into effect in 2003 The proposal is patterned after the Interim Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule and the Stage I Dis-
infection Byproducts Rule finalized in December 1998. Those rules set, for large utility systems, the first standards controlling Cryptosporidium by establishing filtration and monitoring requirements. Physical removal of the microscopic parasite found in animal and other organic wastes, is required because it is almost impossible to remove with chlorination. When those rules were published, it looked as if 70% to 80% of utilities had the technology in place to comply according to EPA's Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water (OGWDR) But compliance will not be so easy for rural community systems, those involved with the rulemaking agree. The proposal will ask water facility operators to install individual filter turbimeters, to measure the water's turbidity, or particle density, every 15 minutes. Actions to correct the filter function will be required, depending on the measurement results. This work can be easily accomplished at a large plant with 100 or more employees but staffing at the smaller systems some of which serve as few as 15 to 50 households, is slim, according to EPA. These systems usually rely on Ene person to operate the drinking water facility, and that opdrator wears many hats an the community, including wastewater treatment nlana emnlnveh and dog catcher. The proposed rule has been tailored to meet the needs or commumty water systems, said Cayce Parnsh, associate chief for OGWDR s standards and risk reduction branch, by reducing the number of times the system must monitor, collect data, and report to the state. Some members of the Nationa, Rural Water Association eNRWA), a federation of 45 state rural water associations, worry that the proposal has extended the scope"of I
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JUNE 1, 2000/ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / NEWS " 2 5 3 A
